24 November 2014 - Hundreds of women from three counties in Western Equatoria state recently received training in agriculture technology to help them to produce more food for sale and consumption.

About 225 women from Yambio, Nzara and Maridi counties attended the training, organized by UN Women in collaboration with the state government.

Zulifa Dawa, State Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare said the training was organized because the state’s women, who are members of cooperative societies, are active in the agriculture sector.

“Many of women here are major food producers,” said Ms. Dawa. “That is way we want to help them prioritize agriculture as their first priority for sustainable livelihoods in their houses and in Western Equatoria State as whole.

Ms. Dawa noted that her ministry was working with UN Women to provide trainees with knowledge about the latest agriculture technology so as to boost their production.

She pledged to talk to state’s lands authorities in order to allocate land for their cultivations.

UN Women Economic Specialist Lasana Wonnah said that the organization was carrying out an agriculture intervention project in different states in South Sudan, including Western Equatoria State which was selected because 80 per cent of the farmers are women and also because of abundant fertile land.

He added that UN Women would help women in the state to gain access to productive resources including land, agriculture inputs, machinery, financial funds and market for their produce.

Mariam Ezekiah, a participant, said they had benefited from the training course and would implement the lessons learned once they returned to their respective counties.

UNMISS officials also attended the event and talked to participants about the role of the mission in South Sudan.